I was very excited to get my hot little hands on the latest volume of the Cesare Aldo series. This is a crime mystery series set in 1500’s Florence, and A Divine Fury is the fourth book in the series. (For reviews or more information about the other titles, Ritual Of Fire HERE, The Darkest Sin HERE, City Of Vengeance HERE)

Florence 1539. Cesare Aldo, who was a officer of the Otto, an early version of the police force, loosely speaking, was exiled from the city in a previous volume, but has now been called back to Florence. Though he’s one of the force’s best investigators, he’s fallen foul of the Segretario Bindi, and placed on night patrol, an unenviable assignment and a major demotion. One night, while chasing a potential criminal who has defied the town’s curfew, he stumbles across a body posed beneath the Statue of David, laid out to recall the pose of Jesus on the cross. He’s soon embroiled in the case, alongside his former protege Strocchi, who now outranks him, and hoping to be made an officer again, but the case takes some strange turns, from exorcisms, church secrets, espionage to serial murder and religious fanaticism. Can Strocchi and Aldo work together to solve the crime?

I enjoy this series so much. I’ve said before that I love the attention to detail in these books. I can’t stand when historical fiction contains really glaring anachronisms or a basic misunderstanding of the time period. And I really love Aldo as a character. He’s sharp and cunning, sometimes a bit funny in a wry way. He can be kind and understanding at times, and ruthless when needed. I also love that we have a gay character who is not a trope and being gay is not his whole personality, like some underwritten queer characters can be. He’s a strong lead and he’s refreshing.

In this book, we get the same wonderful, richly written story world of previous novels in the series, with their atmosphere and vibrant characters. Dark cobbled alleyways, canals, the river Arno, beggers and merchant classes, the Medici family and the closed and untouchable world of the Church. We can smell the aroma of women who work in the tannery and fresh stew at a tavern after a long day tramping the streets. I really love sinking into the world of these books. Its a hard life though, I feel glad that I wasn’t born in this time period.

It was wonderful to get back to our cast of characters. We have Strocchi, who was once Aldo’s protege and is now his senior, and they have a strained relationship. Will it heal here? His wife, the tough and beautiful Tomasia is heavily pregnant. We have the love life of Aldo and his sometimes lover Saul, who I really like, a love that they have to keep secret because homosexuality is forbidden by the church. It’s wonderful to see these characters grow. We have a few other known faces here from previous books, but we also meet Contessa Valentine Coltello, a beautiful and very intelligent woman who may be a match of wits for the wiley Aldo. I really liked her. Without giving too much away, she should perhaps come across as disreputable, but something about her vivacity makes her such a charming new character.

Of course, the world of Aldo and his city are just part of the charm of these books. The mystery plot is the heart of them, and the one here begins with a body found posed like Jesus on the cross. I liked the stylised, serial killer death scene that’s offered to us. It’s very creepy and sinister, very Hannibal. On the whole, I think this was an interesting and compelling case, but I felt a bit like I wanted more twists. We have it hinted early on that the exorcist is involved in the case, and it almost comes down to two suspects very quickly. The way that these books often involve the church, which was so much a part of life at the time and was basically above the law, works well, but I wanted a little more, something a little different this time. This case felt similar to the previous one. I still really liked it though. It was different enough. I didn’t love who the killer was, it didn’t feel as well through through as I would have liked, and felt like maybe the author changed his mind over who the killer was going to be, but it’s not horrible or unsatisfying, just felt like it could have been a bit stronger.

I also wanted more Contessa, the author could have done a little more with her, but the idea is clearly to foreshadow the next book and to let us get to know her, and I think that works well. What this second plotline does for the book though is add a lot of tension, because Aldo’s involvement with her involves Cosimo Medici, which means he’s walking a tightrope of two careful investigations at once, being a servant of two powerful masters, so to speak, what the Contessa is up to and the murder case. It works well in that way and creates some high stakes.

If you like this series, I think you’ll be happy with this latest installment. I really liked it. If you’re new to the series, I think you could read this one as a standalone, but I do recommend going back to the start. What a treat you would have ahead of you. I just finished this one, and I’m already looking forward to the next one.

Read It If: you love historical fiction, atmospheric mysteries, this series is a real gem!

Thank you to PGC Books for the copy of this book for review.